Drawer suspension retainer



July 13, 1965 G. A. BURGESS DRAWER SUSPENSION RETAINER Filed June 21,1963 r MHMMHM F g- 2 y, M 3 TG a m \V- U 5 VB m WA 0 United StatesPatent O 3,194,623 DRAWER SUSPENSION RETAINER George A. Burgess,Fairfield, Ohio, assiguor to The Globe-Wernicke C0., Division ofGlobe-Weruicke Industries, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of(lhio Filed June 21, 1963, Ser. No. 289,619 1 Claim. (Cl. 312-333) Thisinvention relates to a drawer suspension such as found in filingcabinets and the like, and more particularly to a new and improvedretainer which will releasably hold a drawer in the closed position.

Filing cabinet drawers as compared with the drawers in a desk or otherpiece of furniture present unusual and diflicult problems. In the firstplace, filing cabinet drawers are generally rather long, and in thesecond place they are often quite heavily loaded. The combination ofthese factors makes thesuspension of the drawer particularly important.That is, a simple set of slides would be entirely inadequate.

These problems have been for the most part satisfactorily solved by thedevelopment of what may be called a progressive drawer suspension. Sucha suspension usually involves a set of tracks secured to the inside ofthe filing cabinet, a set of rails secured to the drawer, anintermediate runner between the tracks and the rails, and a system ofbearings cooperating between these various elements. The tracks, rails,and intermediate runner are all of approximately the same length, andare so arranged that as the drawer is opened or extended, theintermediate runner will also be extended, but at half the speed of thedrawer, and will therefore extend only half the length of the drawer inits outermost position. This construction not only assists in the smoothoperation of the drawer, but also serves as a support for the drawerwhen extended to its full open position.

The ease with which such a drawer will glide in and out has presentedstill another problem. It is now necessary to provide some means wherebythe drawer is releasably retained in its closed position. Priorsuspensions have partially solved this problem by providing a depressionin the bearing tracks, into which the bearings drop when the drawer isin its closed position. Such arrangements are largely satisfactory, butare relatively difiicult and expensive to fabricate in relation to theother components of the drawer suspension.

Accordingly, it is therefore an object of this invention to provide adrawer suspension retainer which will releasably hold a filing drawer orthe like in its closed position.

Another important object of this invention is the pro vision of aretainer which is more easily and inexpensively manufactured than hasheretofore been possible.

These objects, along with others which will become apparent to theskilled worker in the art as this specification proceeds, areaccomplished by the construction and arrangement of parts described inmore detail hereinafter. Reference will be made from time to time to theaccompanying drawing showing an exemplary embodiment of the invention,and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the spring of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top view of the spring of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an end elevational view of a progressive drawer suspensionembodying the retainer of this invention;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of a portion of a drawer suspensionin the fully closed position and showing the retainer of this invention;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of a progressive drawer suspensionand the retainer of this' invention, immediately prior to closing; and

334,623 Patented July 13, 1965 FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional viewthrough a conventional progressive drawer suspension.

It should be pointed out and emphasized at this time that this inventionis concerned solely with the construction of a retainer for a drawersuspension, and not with the suspension itself. In other words, thefeatures of this invention are readily applicable to any of theprogressive drawer suspensions currently available on the market.

Accordingly, the details of the construction of the progressive drawersuspension will be rather general. A full and complete description of aprogressive drawer suspension may be found in United States LettersPatent No. 2,162,318 in the name of Fred A. Schmitz and entitled DrawerSuspension. As seen in cross section in FIGURE 6, a progressive drawersuspension may include a track 10 secured in any suitable manner to theinside wall 11 of a filing cabinet. The track 10 includes the inwardlyextending lower flange 12, the central flange 13, and the upper flange14. These last two mentioned flanges will be curved as indicated in thedrawing to provide races for the balls as described in more detailhereinafter.

The suspension also includes a rail or channel 15 which may be securedin any suitable manner to the side wall 16 of a filing cabinet drawer.

Between these members is the intermediate runner 17, which though of thesame length as the track 10 and the rail 15, will only be extended forone half its length the drawer is extended to its full open position.

The large ball 18 rides in the race formed by the upper flange 14 of thetrack and the top 15a of the rail 15, extending through a hole in theintermediate runner 17. The smaller balls 19 and 2th provide a bearingbetween the race 17a of the intermediate runner and the flange 13 of thetrack, and between the race 17b of the intermediate runner and the rail15 respectively. As additionally shown in FIGURE 6, it is conventionalto provide abutments such as 21 in the rail 15, and 22 in theintermediate runner 17 to confine the balls 20 and 19 respectivelywithin their races. Such abutments may conveniently be formed bypunching a small tab inwardly from the side of the member in the properlocation.

Turning now to FIGURES 4 and 5 which show in side elevation the rearmostportion of a drawer suspension, the retainer of this invention may bedescribed in more detail. It includes a spring indicated generally at23, which cooperates with the notch 24 and the bumper 25 to securely butreleasably hold the drawer suspension in the closed position. The spring23 is, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, a strip ofresilient material having a flange engaging clip portion 26, adapted toengage the flange 12 of the track 19. The spring 23 also includes atapered, upwardly, extending, yieldable abutment or detent 27.

Between the detent portion 27 and the clip portion 26, the spring isprovided with one or more corrugations as at 28, and the free end 29 ofthe spring rests on the flange 12. This arrangement permits a smallamount of axial resiliency, the importance of which will become apparenthereinafter.

In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the notch 24 is formedwhile punching a tab (such as 21 in FIGURE 6) inwardly in the rail 15 toconfine a ball in its proper race. The portion of the rail 15immediately behind the notch 24 isbeveled as shown at 30. BycomparingFIGURES 4 and 5, it will be seen that as the rail 15 isretracted toward its fully closed position, the bevel 30 will engage thedetent portion 27 of the spring, gradually depressing it until thespring snaps up into the notch 24 in the fully closed position. It willbe seen that the relationship between the detent 27, the corrugations28, the notch 24, and the resilient bumper 25 is such that and tend tourge the rail 15 to the fully closed position. It will also be notedthat the front portion 27b of the detent is less steeply sloped thantherear portion 27a; .The coaction of the sloped portion 27b and the bevel30 serves to permit the slide or rail 15 to easily attain the fullyclosed position, while the coaction of the more engage said track, andincluding a tapered, upwardly extending, yieldable abutment, abevelonsaidrail dis-' posed to depress said detent as said'rail andrunner are steeply sloped portion 27a, the corrugations 28, and thestraight edge of the notch 24 securely maintains the suspension in theclosed position. I

7 Many modifications can be made in this invention without departingfrom its scope and spirit. While the invention has been described interms of an exemplary embodiment, no limitation is intended exceptinsofar asset forth in the following claim.

What is claimed as new, and what it is desired to secure by LettersPatent is:

In a filing cabinet having at least one drawer, and including a tracksecured to said cabinet, a rail secured to said drawer, anintermediaterunner between said track and said rail, and a system of bearingscooperating there between; the improved retainer comprising a resilientbumper at one end of said track to stop said railand said runner at theclosedposition, a spring detent secured tosaid track, said spring detentcomprising a strip of resilient material having a clip portion at oneend adapted to moved toward said closed position, and a notch in saidrail disposed to cooperate With'said detent and said bumper toreleasably hold said rail and runner in closed position, saidabutment-being arranged to' engage said notch in said-rail when saidrail is in the closed position, said spring detent including at leastone corrugation between said yieldable abutment and said notch .and therear portion of said tapered abutment being more steeply sloped than thefront portion thereof,:whereby said suspension unit is releasablyretained in the. fully closed position.

Referenees Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS' FRANK B. SHERRY,Primary Examiner.

